2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Fundamental research to make asbestos harmless by laser irradiation

Research Project

Project/Area Number	20310049
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Environmental technology/Environmental materials
Research Institution	Gunma National College of Technology
Principal Investigator	KOJIMA Akira Gunma National College of Technology, 特命教授 (40042593)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	FUJISHIGE Masao 群馬工業高等専門学校, 物質工学科, 准教授 (70218999)
Project Period (FY)	2008 – 2010
Keywords	アスベスト / レーザーによる分解 / スレートの迅速分解 / アスベストの無害化
Research Abstract	We investigated decomposition of composites containing asbestos by melting using laser irradiation. Many laser sources were compared and continuous and pulsed irradiation were tested, and we discovered that pulsed irradiation from a low-cost CO_2 laser can be used for processing. Various processing conditions were investigated with a small laser system with 50W output. We found a condition that allows a small laser system to process 5mm-thick asbestos, which is close to 6mm, the thickness of a slate. Observation by SEM of the processed region confirmed removal of asbestos.